Son of Iran woman to be stoned released on bail

TABRIZ, Iran 
The son of an Iranian woman whose death sentence by stoning caused world outrage told reporters on Saturday he had been released after paying a $40,000 bail.

In his first public meeting with journalists, Sajjad Qaderzadeh told reporters in the northwest city of Tabriz that he was freed on Dec. 12 after posting the bail. He was originally arrested in October after speaking "illegally" with two German journalists about his mother's case. The Germans were also arrested.

Local officials had originally told journalists they would meet his mother Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani as well, but then they said the proper procedures had not been followed to give her leave from prison.

Several unidentified people, apparently local officials and possibly plainclothes security officers, were present during the interview, which was Qaderzadeh's first with the international press.

It is not clear if he was ever formally charged, but he said he was arrested because the journalists had not been authorized. The Germans remain in custody for working as journalists after entering the country on tourist visas.

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani was convicted of adultery in 2006 and sentenced to death by stoning after the murder of her husband a year earlier. In the face of international outrage the sentence has been suspended and is under review by the Supreme Court.

She has also been convicted of being an accessory to her husband's murder and could face death by hanging as well.

Qaderzadeh told journalists that he didn't doubt his mother was guilty, but was asking that her stoning sentence be commuted.

"I do not think that my mother is innocent. She is certainly guilty," he said. "However, the decision has to be made by our country's officials. They may change the stoning sentence to some other verdict."

Stoning was widely imposed in the years following the 1979 Islamic revolution, and even though Iran's judiciary still regularly hands down such sentences, they are often converted to other punishments.

The last known stoning was carried out in 2007, although the government rarely confirms that such punishments have been meted out.

Under Islamic rulings, a man is usually buried up to his waist, while a woman is buried up to her chest with her hands also buried. Those carrying out the verdict then throw stones until the condemned dies.